While it was no laughing matter for the Mets and their fans, even the Dodgers’ players themselves found some humor in the Mets horrific display last night.
Redding gave us a quality start and the Mets fought back to tie the game. And then …
Two words – Third base. How does one miss it? I have been watching baseball for over 20 years and have NEVER seen a player miss the bag rounding third. Ryan Church said after the game that he thought he touched it, but then said that he missed it. Which is it?
Angel Pagan. Great night at the plate but needs to be reminded (and quickly) that the center fielder is the captain of the outfield. But, since you’re not going to yield the way for him, at least be sure you make the catch after calling him off, okay?
We witnessed something else I never saw before – the “five-man infield.” (Didn’t Carlos Beltran look ridiculous in the infield?) Ok, so it worked for the first out as Stokes got the short fly ball to left. But nothing was going to help this team after that.
Jeremy Reed. This is what happens when you have players filling in at positions they are not used to playing. A perfectly induced ground ball right to him with plenty of time to get the force at home, and probably even the double pay back to first, but he threw it away.
Now let’s think logically for a moment, Had Church not missed third and scored, it would have been 3-2 Mets. When Reed threw the ball away, the game would have been tied. But who’s to say a second run wouldn’t have also scored on that play to win it for the Dodgers anyway?
This is one of those games with a lot of “what-if”s attached to it. The biggest question being, “What if the Mets didn’t play so sloppily last night?” Then world may never know …
